Yesterday, my Philippine Hyundai Getz, Gina, got her most drastic pimping to date: a smoking of her headlights that completely blew me away. From the Hyundai Getz’s standard look, which was by no means unattractive but rather antiseptic in its flavor and demeanor, suddenly, Gina has developed a personality and character that makes her uniquely different from every other Getz in the Philippines to date!

I LOVE IT!

The provider of this service is a mysterious fellow by the online and professional name of Hanzander, a Philippine car detailer who specializes in smoked headlights and amber. I got in touch with him after seeing his work on several forums, especially this Hyundai Getz Philippines forum, Getz  Club Philippines. While he lives in Tagaytay, he will travel to pretty much to anywhere in Metro Manila, which included yesterday’s trek to my home in Quezon City on the fringes of Caloocan.

Hanzander and his assistant completed a smoke-and-amber operation on my Gina in approximately three-and-a-half hours. The standard chrome areas were given a ‘flat black’ look to send across the impression of plastic or vinyl, and then the reflectors on the side were painted a brilliant amber color. In a stroke of genius and uniqueness, the Philippine auto detailing expert I hired left alone the two chrome slots on the amber reflectors of my Hyundai Getz; the end result was two flaps of chrome that actually look like eyelashes! My Gina has eyelashes!

To top it all off, Hanzander and his team were remarkably friendly, unbelievably candid, and extremely professional. Their service for smoked headlights and amber cost me a mere PHP1,400, with an additional fee to cover the gasoline traveled from Tagaytay to Caloocan. Getting your Hyundai Getz’s headlights smoked effective voids your warranty on your headlights, but Hanzander’s service comes guaranteed against moisture, and I haven’t experienced any moisture just yet. I would hire these Philippine auto detailers again in a heartbeat.

I cannot stop gushing about how totally magnificent my Hyundai Getz Philippines looks now with her smoked headlights. She looks so different, so fierce, and - as is the point - so wonderfully unique! I’m sooooooo happy!

(By the way, honestly, truth be told, the pictures do not do justice to the headlights. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge photo.)

For just a brief while, let’s digress from our favorite Philippine Hyundai Getz, and talk very briefly about my first love, the Volkswagen Beetle.

To your left, you can see what my a portion of my desk at my day job looks like. A glass frame features a photo of me and my daughter - the other side of the glass frame shows a photo of me and my son - surrounded by three lovely handpainted classic Volkswagen Beetle magnets. To the right of the frame, a Lipton Get-in-the-Zone mug plays host to four totally adorable Volkswagen New Beetle pens.

(By the way, all these Beetle merchandise can be bought on ebay.ph. Simply click here to visit the user profile of one mandygirl119 who sells Beetle-related merchandise in the Philippines. Products are all Beetle collectibles, and not that expensive; she, on the other hand, is absolutely delightful to talk to, and very easy to do business with.)

I’ve always wanted my own Volkswagen Beetle, ever since I was a little boy. There was something about this scrappy little car that spoke to me. Of course, its reputation as a car that just wouldn’t quit, made me want it even more. It’s fuel-efficient, it can drive through floods - Cathy’s ob-gyn literally drove it through one and it didn’t conk out - with ease, and it’s easy on the eyes. Come on, let’s face it, the Beetle(new or classic) is a cute car! If maintained well, the Beetle will serve you well it runs into the ground.

If one had anything upwards of PHP100,000 to spare, one could find a more-than-decent Bug for sale on Tsikot.com or even ebay.ph. As for me, well, owning my own Beetle will still have to remain a pipe dream. Meanwhile, Gina’s looking suh-weet, and with a chance to smoke her headlights looming in the not-so-distant future, I have to admit life, right now, is as good as it Getz!

This morning, I took Gina, my Philippine Hyundai Getz, to the service center of Hyundai Global City - Fort Bonifacio in Makati City for her 5000km checkup. Ever since the Hyundai Makati branch at Pasong Tamo closed down, it’s been difficult for Hyundai Getz owners working or living in Makati and the nearby south to get their Getzes serviced because the nearest Hyundai distributors were so far away.

This is why I think servicing my Hyundai Getz at Hyundai Global City - Fort Bonifacio makes so much sense.

While Hyundai Global City - Fort Bonifacio is no Toyota Bel-Air (the service center that I consider my standard for automobile service; the men there, from service advisers to mechanics, are the best Toyota service providers in the Philippines, bar none), this Hyundai service center provides many good benefits, including the following:

• Space. There’s plenty of parking space outside the service center, and a lot of space also inside. It didn’t seem like there was a line of Getzes and other Hyundai vehicles being serviced, so Gina was given attention almost right away.
• Speedy service. There are two service advisers at Hyundai Fort Bonifacio, and I was assisted by a gentleman named Jay Doria (no relation to Dexter - I asked). It took him all of five minutes to prep my Philippine Hyundai Getz and give me the initial estimate. And since there was no line for people being serviced, he was able to show me around the showroom and assist me in selecting a car alarm for Gina. (Kudos to accessories specialist Onyok as well.)
• Extended hours. Unlike at Wheels Inc. E. Rodriguez, whose doors shut down at around 6PM, this Hyundai service center in Makati is open until 10PM. Did you hear that? 10PM! For coded individuals like myself, this is spectacular news because we can proceed to the Fort from work in Makati and not be worried about the Hyundai service center closing down on you.
• They threw in a free car wash and vacuum! I love my freebies. Poor Gina was ridiculously dirty because of the past few days’ rain. I think they took pity on her. LOL

My only gripes are that their accessories center is woefully inadequate (No steering wheels for sale? No rims? It makes Wheels Inc.’s accessories center look like Blade!) and there was no Hyundai Getz in the showroom. Heresy! Oh, and I tried to show Jay my website, but their Net provider blocks this website because of porn. PORN? There’s no porn on this website, d-uh!

I’ll let you know later how the actual service went. Methinks it’s gonna be LEGENDARY.

Update: So I picked Gina up from Hyundai Global City - Fort Bonifacio. She looked splendid, and the service adviser Jessie sat me down and ran me through each item on the list. (Meticulous but very well done; it ensured I knew exactly what was done to my Hyundai Getz.)

I decided to buy a car alarm for Gina. They discounted me down from PHP5,500 to PHP4,500, labor included. So that brought my total costs up to PHP6,500, which I felt very reasonable, all things factored in.

Oh, guess what added perk gave me an absolute thrill? Apparently, at this Hyundai service center in Makati, you can get SM Advantage points! Since I paid around PHP6,500, I earned around PHP130 worth of points in one fell swoop! I am so sold at getting my Hyundai Getz serviced there from now on!